All posts by Sarah Peterson

Tree-planters borrowing B.C.’s protected farmland, selling carbon credits

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Foreign tree-planting companies are borrowing thousands of acres of protected farmland in British Colombia for the purpose of selling carbon credits — land which shouldn’t be used for tree-planting at all, according to the Opposition’s spokesperson for Agriculture and Food.

Phto: alc.gov.bc.ca
Photo: alc.gov.bc.ca

“There’s just so little farmland in this province,” says Paul Sanborn, a professor of ecosystem science at the university of British Colombia.

The mere 5% of provincial land that is considered ‘productive’ is protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve Act and referred to as ALR land.

According to documents received through the access to information act, The Ministry of Agriculture is aware that both foreign and domestic companies are borrowing ALR land to plant trees, a move which is legally legitimate. But there’s concern this will stop the land from being used for its intended purpose — agriculture.

Carbon credits can be earned in B.C. for greenhouse gas reductions and these credits can be sold to help other parties offset their emissions. Tree-planting is generally seen as a viable way of generating these offsets.

“We have tonnes of land everywhere else that needs to be reforested, but turning agricultural land back into forest is going against the nature of the ALR,” says Lana Popham, the Opposition government’s spokesperson for Agriculture and Food.

In order for tree-planting offsets to work, the trees have to get big enough to actually suck carbon out of the air. To sell these offsets, there needs to be a guarantee that the trees won’t be cut down.

According to the Minister’s internal briefing, “Dedicating ALR land for the purpose of environmental conservation is allowed without an application…”

As a result, some companies are putting conservation covenant’s on these lands— a practice which could stop the land from being used for other purposes for up to 100 years.

“If you have these covenants on this protected farmland, essentially what you’re saying is we can’t go back to using this land for agriculture for many, many decades,” says Sanborn

The Ministry says covenants which restrict farming activity on ALR land require approval from the Agricultural Land Commission before they have any effect.

But according to the Minister’s October briefing notes, Borealis Carbon Offsets — an out-of-province tree-planting company — planted trees on 70 hectares of ALR land, and then “placed a covenant on that land”. The group intends to plant more trees in this region of BC “but does not yet have contracts in place”.

Photo: alc.bc.gov.ca
Photo: alc.gov.bc.ca

With or without the covenants, Popham says ALR land shouldn’t be used for tree-planting.

She’s in the process of creating a private member’s bill which would ensure these carbon-offset programs can’t be done on ALR land.

“It’s going to be a contentious issue, it already is a problem, the complication is that it’ll probably take legislation to in order to change anything,” she says.

The Ministry says the amount of tree-planting on ALR land now is not significant, but according to the briefing, as carbon trading markets gain prominence, more ALR land may be contracted for this purpose— something the briefing says is “of concern”.

Sanborn says these carbon-offset programs have been “swept under the rug” because nobody really envisioned they would happen, and the government will have to play “catch up” to deal with them.

He says he’s pleased to hear that the Ministry is watching the issue, and hopes they’ll do something to address it.

“I think it does require some re-visiting to their policies to either rule it out or make it harder to do,” he says.

“At the end of the day, watching the issue isn’t enough.”

 

 

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Winter cyclists deterred by cold Ottawa winters, lack of snow removal

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Winter cyclists and the city of Ottawa are hopeful that more bike-targeted snow removal next winter will increase the falling number of winter bike trips in the capital.

According to Ottawa Public Health, winter temperatures have been plummeting consistently in the city and the number of frostbite warnings and advisories have been rising.

In 2010, the city of Ottawa implemented sensors to track the amount of daily bike trips on various paths throughout the city, particularly in the city’s core. These sensors provide a window into the changes in winter bike traffic.

According to data obtained from the city of Ottawa’s open data catalog, winter bike trips in the capital appear to be dropping — at least on the paths with reliable winter sensors.

Michael Napiorkowski from the Ottawa Bicycle Lanes Project, says the cold may be stopping more bikers, but it’s often more of a psychological barrier than a physical one.

“I rode my bicycle everyday so far this winter… in a simple parka, toque, kakis with long johns and ordinary winter boots. I was never cold,” he says.

Alex deVries, from Citizens for Safe Cycling in Ottawa, says despite the cold temperatures — which are out of anyone’s control — one of the main barriers for winter cyclists in Ottawa is the lack of snow removal.

Though the data above is taken from winter-cleared paths, cyclists still face a lack of snow removal on connecting paths and side streets, he says.

“The city of Ottawa has no policy on clearing bike lanes, they’re usually treated as a place to store snow, so that makes it very difficult for me to find space to bike,” he says.

DeVries says there are certain paths that are extremely viable for commuting in the summer that aren’t available in the winter.

He says the numbers are always going to be lower in the winter than in the summer but that the decrease doesn’t have to be so drastic.

“We do it to ourselves. If we had proper snow removal techniques, it doesn’t matter what the temperature is, we would have much higher participation rates.”

Jeff Leiper, councilor for the Kitchissippi ward in Ottawa, says the city has committed to making it easier for cyclists to continue biking year-round.

“There are definitely gaps in the winter cycling network that are making it tougher for people to make that decision to bike in the winter,” he says.

Jeff Leiper: City of Ottawa
Jeff Leiper: City of Ottawa

Which is why — as part of their 2013 cycling plan — the city will begin clearing additional bike paths and lanes throughout the city next winter.

The plan proposes to eventually double the amount of winter-maintained cycling lanes from 21 kilometers to 40.

City of Ottawa 2013 Cycling Plan. www.Ottawa.ca Dark blue: existing snow-cleared paths. Light Blue: proposed expansion.
City of Ottawa 2013 Cycling Plan: www.Ottawa.ca
Dark blue: existing snow-cleared paths
Light Blue: proposed expansion

Next year’s improved winter maintenance will act as trial, and will be an opportunity for the city to see if snow clearing can increase the number of winter cyclists in Ottawa.

“Cycling year-round is a really important part of creating a sustainable city… and those that chose to drive or bus will face less congested roads, which is good for the city overall,” says Leiper.

He says city streets will continue to become more congested as light-rail construction continues, and that clearing more bike paths will allow those who want to brave the cold to do so.

“I hope that even if the winters keep getting colder, that making it easier for people to get from point A to point B by bike is going to encourage more people to do so,” he says.

“When the streets are cleared and you’re dressed properly, it’s actually a great way to get to work.”

As the SIU approaches its 25th birthday, “More needs to be done”

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Twenty-five years after Ontario introduced its independent police oversight unit, Ralph Agard — who helped push for the unit in 1989 — is satisfied with what it’s done, but many others who’ve been watching closely aren’t as convinced.

The Special Investigations Unit, often referred to as the SIU, is an independent unit which looks at any serious civilian injury, death or sexual assault involving police officers in Ontario.

The unit was introduced in 1990 to address misconduct and regain public confidence, particularly after a series of police shootings against black men in Toronto.

The SIU was inspired by a recommendation in the 1989 Clare Lewis report. Ralph Agard was a member of the original task force that wrote the report.

At the time, tensions were high between the black community and the Toronto police force.

“There were protests and marches….I remember stepping out of a coffee shop and you could cut the tension with a knife,” Agard says.

He says it’s not the same today, and he believes the SIU has been “an instrument of change.”

Not everyone agrees with that success story, though. At least not entirely.

In the early years of the SIU, high expectations were met with disappointment. The unit had a lack of legislation, limited resources and high turnover at the director level. This continued for quite a few years.

In 2008, the Ombudsman of Ontario — also a former director of the SIU — released a report which compared the SIU to a “toothless tiger.”

He found that the unit was “under-resourced, slow to respond to calls, and soft on police services that failed to follow the rules.”

Every year, the amount of SIU cases continue to increase — but relatively few charges have been laid. In their 2012-2013 fiscal year, 3.8% of cases resulted in charges.

According to Doug Hatlem, who recently produced a documentary about police brutality in Toronto, the number of officers actually charged by the SIU is “atrocious.”

Peter Rosenthal — the lawyer who represented police-shooting victim Sammy Yatim’s family — says Yatim’s case was unique. Massive public outcry spurred from the viral spreading of a video of the last few minutes of Yatim’s life in 2013. James Forcillo, the officer who shot Yatim on a streetcar in Toronto, was later charged with second-degree murder. Most cases don’t end that way, Rosenthal says.

But Agard warns against judging the effectiveness of the SIU based solely on the number of charges laid —  as there’s nothing to say the cleared officers weren’t all innocent.

SIU Crime Scene: www.SIU.on.ca

But there’s still a lack of trust in the system.

Hatlem says that, although none of the investigators at the SIU are currently police officers, the majority of them used to be— mostly because they’re experienced in criminal investigations. But “there is a sense of camaraderie that doesn’t really disappear,” he says.

Two years ago, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., a similar police oversight unit, began moving towards full civilian staffing — and Hatlem argues that Ontario should be doing the same thing.

“The more independent something is, the more confidence the people have in the conclusions,” says Michael Kempa, a criminology professor at the University of Ottawa.

Additionally, the antagonistic relationship between the SIU and the police force has been a struggle since the start.

The Ombudsman’s 2011 review of the SIU revealed that the unit had experienced everything from passive non-compliance to outright lack of cooperation from the police force. According to the report, they had been denied access to crime scenes and weren’t always immediately notified of incidents.

Jasbir Dhillon, a spokesperson for the SIU, says the unit has also had problems with officers hiring lawyers to help write their reports.

In 2014, the Supreme Court decided that police must make duty notes for the SIU independently — without a lawyer or other officers. Dhillon says this decision will help ensure that the reports show a more truthful account of what happened.

Dhillon says the SIU’s been making slow but consistent progress since 1990, and Kempa says they’ve shown “promising signs” in recent years.

The legislation that the SIU relies on was recently toughened, which helped give them more power, but many criminology experts agree that they still need more if they’re going to be effective. “More needs to be done,” says Hatlem.

 

Netflix Subscriber Growth Slows in U.S., Picks Up Internationally

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Photo from DailyTech.com
Photo from DailyTech.com

The number of international subscribers grows steadily for Netflix as U.S. growth begins to stall.

In their recent third quarter, Netflix posted below-average domestic results — showing only 980,000 new U.S. subscribers, compared to just over two million new international subs. Netflix originally attributed this to their U.S. price-hike in May.

“As best we can tell, the primary cause is the slightly higher prices we now have compared to a year ago,” they wrote in their third quarter statement.

The last time Netflix tried to raise their price it led to a large consumer-revolt and many cancelled subscriptions.

However, May’s hike of $1 per month was different in that it was announced well in advance, and applied only to new customers. Their third quarter report showed uninspiring domestic growth — which they attributed to the U.S. hike. However, their fourth quarter statement says they now believe that the lack of growth was due to a “natural progression” in the U.S. market.

It seems the slowing was not related to the price-hike after all. In fact, Michael Mulvey, a business professor at the University of Ottawa, says their decision to avoid a price-hike on their original supporters showed respect and likely proved positive for their overall brand.

Photo from the University of Ottawa
Michael Mulvey – Photo from the University of Ottawa

“If you show good faith to your customers, they’ll reciprocate.. and that good-will will cash in at a later date when they’re deciding if they should cancel or switch,” he said.

The number of U.S. subscribers grew by 14 per cent this year, as opposed to a 25 per cent growth in 2013 and a 26 per cent growth in 2012.

Though overall positive, their fourth quarter results still revealed a stall in the U.S., proving that the sluggish growth from the past few quarters might be a trend.

There’s only so much room to grow, said Mulvey, referring to the American market.

In their most recent statement, Netflix promised shareholders they’d keep U.S. contribution margins growing, despite slowing subscriber growth.

On the other hand, there has been a reassuring boost in international subscribers, which increased by 71 per cent this year.

 

 

One market they’re increasingly excited about, according to David Wells, Netflix CFO, is their Latin American market. In a publicly broadcast interview for their shareholders, Wells said the market reached five million subscribers last quarter.

“We continue to see great growth and great potential in the market. It’s a market with about 65 million broadband households. If you take that five million number that we talked about, and 65 million in terms of addressable, we think we’ve got a lot of room for growth in the market,” he said.

The obvious move now — if domestic growth appears to be stalling — is to continue to focus more energy on global expansion.

According to their recent statement, Netflix plans to do just that.

Australia and New Zealand will welcome Netflix in the latter part of the first quarter, and so  will additional “major countries” later this year.

“…We now believe we can complete our global expansion over the next two years, while staying profitable, which is earlier than we expected,” the statement reads.

However, Mulvey says they may face challenges along the way.

“When it comes to creative works… there’s not one set of international law that governs that, so they have to negotiate rights within each of those geographical areas,” he said. “There’s a lot that happens behind the scenes… there’s a lot of lawyers working to see how they can make this happen.”

According to their fourth-quarter statement, original content — that debuts exclusively on Netflix — topped their list of watched-content globally.

In order to continue their positive growth, they plan on releasing 320 hours of original programming this year.